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NANCY GRACE
2-Year-Old Toddler Snatched From Bowling Alley
Aired February 11, 2011 - 21:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to kind her.
GRACE: So many cases --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: -- so few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness had seen the suspect on NANCY GRACE.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The NANCY GRACE show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found alive.
Fifty people, 50 days, 50 nights.
Let`s don`t give up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THERESA LEWIS, TEEKAH`S MOTHER: I believe my daughter is still alive. Until the day I get her back, I`ll never give up hope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): For 12 years, Theresa Lewis has returned to the place that changed her life forever. It`s the last place the mother of five saw her 2-year-old daughter, Teekah, on January 23rd, 1999. During a family outing to the now defunct New Frontier bowling alley, Teekah vanished without a trace.
LEWIS: It`s been a roller-coaster, nonstop crying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While family and friends bowled, the three-foot girl played at the wheel of a video arcade game. When Theresa`s brother got up to bowl, mom says she looked away from her baby girl for less than a minute. And when she looked back, she was gone.
LEWIS: Chills went up and down my spine. It just really blew my spine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They searched all of the usual places, the bathrooms, up, under, over, and behind any standing item, until finally alerting the security guard at the alley.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a Tweety Bird white and green T-shirt on. She had white pants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police and the FBI immediately began searching for any sign of the tot, using bloodhounds, ATVs, helicopters, questioning sex offenders, and searching all areas around the bowling alley, including a building at a landfill nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to make sure without a doubt that she didn`t just wander away from the building, that she didn`t wander away and lay down in the brush. We want to make sure she`s not here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The majority of the bowlers at the alley that night have been interviewed, but police have yet to identify the driver of a late 1980s or early 1990s Grand Am with tinted windows. Witnesses say the car was seen speeding out of the parking lot just moments after Teekah disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a matter of narrowing the timeline down, and also, again, to rule them out so we can focus and put our energy elsewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bowling alley is now a fast-food restaurant, but until the toddler, described as a mama`s girl comes home, Lewis will continue to revisit where she lost her daughter.
LEWIS: That`s what I`ve been asking for years, pleading for years, is someone just to come forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Every day 2,300 people go missing in America. Disappear. Vanish. Families left behind wondering, waiting, hoping, but never forgetting. And neither have we.
Fifty people, 50 days. Fifty nights we go live spotlighting America`s missing children, girl, boys, mothers, fathers, grandparents. Gone, but where?
Tonight, 2-year-old toddler Teekah Lewis heads with her family to the local bowling alley. The lanes are packed.
Little Teekah`s having fun playing in a car racing arcade with her family, bowling just feet away. But suddenly she`s gone.
Reports a Pontiac Grand Am with tinted windows speeds away from the bowling alley just minutes later. But police cannot identify the driver. Detectives chase hundreds of leads.
Tonight, 12 years later, a new tip. Are we one step closer to finding a beautiful little girl, 2-year-old Teekah Lewis?
What`s the latest, Jean?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": You know, Nancy, the latest is there`s a $27,000 reward that is still available in this case for anyone that knows the whereabouts of Teekah Lewis. You know, it`s also interesting that her DNA has been put into CODIS now. That is a technological advancement that wasn`t there in 1999.
What this means is that if any remains are found, her DNA can be matched with the DNA of the remains. And that is something that is significant.
I want to go out to David Lohr, crime reporter, AOL.com, joining us tonight.
David, this was right after Christmas in 1999, January 23rd, and it was a night that the whole family went to the bowling alley. And I mean mothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and brothers. And Teekah`s mother just couldn`t find a baby-sitter, so she took her that night.
What happened?
DAVID LOHR, CRIME REPORTER, AOL.COM: Well, Jean, it was actually -- it was a Saturday night, and they were doing this special event at the bowling alley where all the lights were dimmed down. They had the lanes lit up different colors.
So they rented two lanes. They`re taking turns. They`re having a good time.
And the little girl went over to the video arcade. It was less than 10 feet away. She was playing on a race car machine.
So her mom`s watching her. She`s watching what`s going on. When they`re bowling, she turns away just for 15, 30 seconds or so to watch her brother bowl. When she turns her head back around, her daughter`s gone, she`s nowhere to be found.
CASAREZ: Boy, that is scary.
Natisha Lance joining us tonight, NANCY GRACE producer.
Take us inside that bowling alley. We want to give everybody the name of this bowling alley. It was the new Frontier Lanes bowling alley in Tacoma, Washington. Take us inside and explain to us where the arcade was, where the bowling lanes were.
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. This is the New Frontier bowling alley in Tacoma, Washington, just as you said, Jean. And this bowling alley, there`s 32 lanes that are there. And as David pointed out, the family was on two of those lanes.
Now, you have to step down about two or three steps to go to the bowling area. And above that, there is a counter that`s above there where people can watch the people who are bowling, and then to the back of there, there is this arcade which is kind of in a little nook area behind there. There`s also a bar and a restaurant that`s in there.
But where the arcade was is just about six feet from an exit door of where Teekah was playing. And then we believe that her mother was down in the bowling area, but she could have also been up at the counter area. But she said that she was able to see Teekah when she was looking over at her.
CASAREZ: But the little girl was six feet from an exit door in a dimly-lit bowling alley. All right.
I want to ask you, again, Natisha Lance, there was some unidentified people. Because after this happened, they interviewed everybody at the bowling alley, right?
LANCE: They did. They interviewed everybody who was there that night. And then police went back again later because there was a 10-to-15- minute gap before it was reported to police.
So in that time, police believe that people could have left the bowling alley. But they went back and they looked at different receipts, they looked at the people who had rented the lanes, and they were able to interview most of the people there.
However, witnesses say that there were two unidentified men who were there who police had yet to make contact with. One of these men, according to a witness, was seen following Teekah around when she was walking toward this exit door and also walking in the arcade area.
And there was also this vehicle that was spotted outside, according to a witness. It was speeding away around the same time that Teekah disappeared. It`s a 1980s or 1990s model Grand Am, maroon in color, with dark tinted windows and a spoiler on the back.
CASAREZ: Look at that little girl. She is precious.
And joining us tonight from the state of Washington is her mother, Theresa Lewis, Teekah Lewis` mother.
Oh, she`s gorgeous.
Thank you so much, Theresa, for joining us.
Now, I know you feel very, very strongly that Teekah is alive.
LEWIS: Yes, I do.
CASAREZ: Can you tell us why?
LEWIS: I mean, she was only two-and-a-half years old. She -- I mean, look at her. Look at -- I mean, those big brown eyes, those dimples. Who wouldn`t want her? You know?
I mean, my baby`s out there somewhere. And in my heart I believe she`s in Florida.
CASAREZ: You know, we`re showing everybody age progression photos of Teekah Lewis right now. Look at them very, very closely.
Ms. Lewis, I want to ask you, that night, take us back to that night, if you can, to the bowling alley. Your daughter was playing an arcade game, right, where she`s holding the steering wheel?
What happened?
LEWIS: Yes. She was playing the racing game, you know -- well, she was trying to. You know, her little feet couldn`t reach the pedals. So she was just acting like she was playing.
We all were keeping eyes on her. You know? There wasn`t not a minute that somebody didn`t keep their eyes on her.
And it just -- I looked away for just not even 30 to a minute and she was gone. Just like that. And it`s hard for me to believe that not one person in that bowling alley had seen nothing.
CASAREZ: You`re right. You are so right.
So what happened? When you realized she was gone, you had so many relatives there that night. What did you do first?
LEWIS: I -- me, I stopped. I stopped everything I was doing and I looked at the video games, in between the video games, in the bathroom.
I went all -- I ran all the way down to the other bathroom and I asked my ex-sister-in-law`s sister if, you know, she had seen Teekah. She was like, "Teekah`s not in here."
And I had told her, "She`s gone. She`s nowhere around."
So I went to the off-duty officer and I told him, "My daughter is gone." He was like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "She`s nowhere around."
And he -- on the intercom he said, "Look for a missing girl." I was like, "She`s not in here. I already did that. Please call the police, do what you can. Find my daughter."
And after he did the intercom, they called in the first officer. It took, like, 20 minutes for the first officer to come. And within that 20 minutes, my daughter was gone.
CASAREZ: I cannot imagine.
The side door, did you go out that side door? Did you go outside? What did you see outside?
LEWIS: I went out the side door. I was screaming for Teekah, because I knew if I was screaming for her and she heard my voice, she would run back, if she walked out on her own. But I know she didn`t walk out on her own. She couldn`t even open up that door. The door was too heavy for my little girl to open up that door.
CASAREZ: How dark was it in there that night?
LEWIS: It was dark. You know, if the person that did this knew what they were doing, they could have got away, but Teekah was the one to scream at any stranger. She was a mama`s girl.
She would only come to mama, her sisters, and her baby-sitter, and her cousin, Sarah (ph). She wouldn`t go to nobody else. So I don`t understand how this person got away with my daughter.
CASAREZ: I understand what you`re saying, because she didn`t scream out. You didn`t hear a word. She voluntarily may have gone out of that bowling alley with somebody she knew?
LEWIS: Yes.
CASAREZ: All right.
To tonight`s case alert.
Today marks the two-year disappearance of Florida girl Haleigh Cummings. The 5-year-old reportedly tucked into bed. Then a few hours later she was gone.
Police say her stepmother, Misty Croslin, well, was the last person to see her alive. Croslin, flunking several polygraphs, now behind bars, along with Haleigh`s father and multiple relatives on drug trafficking charges.
As the search for Haleigh goes on, investigators insist Haleigh`s disappearance is not the work of a stranger and key witnesses in the case are hiding critical information.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEWIS: That`s what I`ve been asking for years, pleading for years, is someone just to come forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Two-year-old toddler Teekah Lewis played at a coin-operated video game while her family bowled nearby. Teekah vanished minutes later, January 23, 1999. Investigators say they believe the toddler was kidnapped by a stranger, but say it`s hard to believe nobody saw what happened.
LEWIS: It`s been a roller-coaster, nonstop crying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police and the FBI immediately began searching for any sign of the tot using bloodhounds, ATVs, helicopters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you find anything at all that you think is of interest, don`t pick it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a desire to help people out. Just want to come out and do what we can to help find the little girl.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez.
What a beauty. This little girl, Teekah Lewis, two-and-a-half years old. The whole family goes to the bowling alley on a Saturday night. How many relatives could you have at the bowling alley? And she just disappears out of thin air.
We are taking your calls live. Teekah Lewis` mother, Theresa, is joining us tonight with calls.
Christina in Indiana.
Hi Christina.
CHRISTINA, INDIANA: Hi.
CASAREZ: Thank you for calling.
CHRISTINA: Thank you.
I have a question. I know that her DNA has been put into CODIS. But why is it not possible for us to have a worldwide DNA system somewhere?
I mean, at some point in our children`s lives, they go to the doctor or the hospital and they get blood work done. And if she`s still alive and with another family, if they could run it through that, I mean, I`d be willing to have my children to have their information put in that to save another child`s life.
CASAREZ: Christina, that`s really, really a smart thing you`re saying. I don`t think technology has gone that far. The system is bogged down.
But Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler," joining us tonight from Washington, D.C., what about that? Because Theresa, Teekah`s mother, believes -- and she has got her reasons -- she believes her daughter is still alive. How can we link or somehow identify these children that may be in the hands of someone else?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, it`s very, very hard to do, because you have to get DNA off that child and get it matched up with CODIS. And there`s no law that requires that.
But I think what the police can do is go back to that bar. I believe this person wasn`t local, because that`s where a lot -- bowling alleys are local people. They`re not people on the road or from far away.
And I also believe it`s somebody who was probably one of the bar people, coming and going quite often. Probably, people know who he is but don`t suspect he`s particularly guilty of anything because that`s Roger or that Bobby. You know, they know who he is, even if they don`t like him to much, but he`s always around.
And it isn`t that hard to grab a child at a very, very busy place, because all you have to do is have that moment. If he sees that little girl, and he`s over in that corner, and he can get her out of eyeshot for a second, put a hand over her mouth, and he`s out the door.
And do you know if somebody actually saw him even with his hand on the child, he`d probably say, "Oh, your little girl was running toward the door. Here, I was trying to keep her from going outside." And we would never think anything of it.
So I bet you he`s a regular at that bowling alley. They need to go back and find out who drinks at that bar back then.
CASAREZ: Those are some good points.
To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, joining us in San Francisco.
You know, as I was thinking about it, a bowling alley is actually a really noisy place. It`s a hollow-sounding place, acoustics are not good. But very noisy. And even if a child did scream, you could put your hand over the mouth and they might think the child is just playing or, you know, whatever.
Authorities have told us, Marc Klaas, that they do believe it`s a stranger abduction. That`s what they believe, law enforcement, at this point.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: I agree with them. But first, briefly, to the DNA question, first of all, I think the argument against it would be that it`s intrusive, and a lot of people don`t want big brother on their backs like that. But DNA could easily be extracted in the maternity ward for every child born and placed into a database.
Now, as far as the abduction situation goes, I agree, it probably was a crime of opportunity, and it may very well come back to those two men that were there and then weren`t there. One of them could easily have gone outside, got in the car. The other guy could have put himself between the child and the family, scooped her up, and immediately taken her outside, gotten into the car, and disappeared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): A mother searching for her daughter for more than 12 years thought a tip might finally answer her question, what happened to her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Teekah Lewis?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On January 23, 1999, around 10:30 p.m., Teekah`s family reported the tot missing when there was no sign of her. The family says Teekah was playing near the video games when she was last seen by her parents. Teekah`s mother says she turned her head for last than a minute and Teekah was gone.
LEWIS: I believe my daughter is still alive, and I`ll never give up hope. And, you know, until the day I get her back, I`ll never give up hope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez.
Look at the picture of this little girl. Her mother is with us tonight. She believes she is still alive. That is what she feels in her gut, in her heart. And she has the facts, she says, to back it up.
I want to go to Cecilia in Kentucky.
Hi, Cecilia.
CECILIA, KENTUCKY: Hi. I was just saying, you know, I`m sorry about her loss and everything, and hope and pray that she is alive. But if you turn your head more than 15 seconds, it had to be longer for someone to snatch up a little girl.
CASAREZ: You know, that is the stark --
CECILIA: Did they have cameras?
CASAREZ: -- reality. Did they have cameras?
Theresa Lewis joining us tonight, Teekah Lewis` mother.
It was 1999. Did they have any surveillance cameras in the bowling alley?
LEWIS: They did, but that night they didn`t have them on.
CASAREZ: You know, every year you hold a vigil for your daughter at the site where the New Frontier Lanes bowling alley was, right?
LEWIS: Yes, I do.
CASAREZ: It was torn down shortly after that. What`s in its place? Because I want everybody to know where this is. It`s a fast-food place there now?
LEWIS: There`s a Home Depot, and there`s a Jack in the Box, and there`s a bank there.
CASAREZ: All right. Tacoma, Washington.
To Steve Kardian, joining us tonight, former police detective, self- defense expert out of New York.
This is a cold case, and law enforcement told us that they`re not really working it because it`s a cold case. What do you do, Steve, when you have got a cold case, but you have got so many other cases to focus on, but you can`t forget this because Teekah Lewis might be out there?
STEVE KARDIAN, FMR. POLICE DETECTIVE : Well, Jean, when they have time, if they have a cold case squad, they`ll be able to pick it up. Typically, what we see in law enforcement when we have a quiet period, we`ll pick up an old case, we`ll take a look and see if there`s anything new. We may even go out and interview some witnesses.
But they`ll stay on it. They have got the ViCAP unit, the Violent Criminal Apprehension unit of the FBI that`s going to keep a vigilant look for the DNA for her, and we`re good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEWIS: That`s what I`ve been asking for years, pleading for years, is someone just to come forward. You know? But don`t play no game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
GRACE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness seen the suspect on Nancy Grace.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Grace show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found. Alive. 50 people, 50 days, 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
THERESA LEWIS, MOTHER OF MISSING GIRL, TEEKAH LEWIS: I believe my daughter`s still alive. Until the day I get her back, I`ll never give up hope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 12 years, Theresa Lewis has returned to the place that changed her life forever. It`s the last place the mother of five saw her two-year-old daughter, Teekah, on January 23rd, 1999. During a family outing to the now debunk new frontier bowling ally, Teekah vanished without a trace.
LEWIS: It`s been a roller coaster. Nonstop crying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While family and friends bowled, the 3-foot girl played at the wheel of a video arcade game. When Theresa`s brother got up to bowl, mom says she looked away from her baby girl for less than a minute and when she looked back, she was gone.
LEWIS: Chills just went down my spine. Just really blew my mind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They searched all of the usual place, the bathrooms, up, under, over and behind any standing item until, finally, alerting the security guard at the alley.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a Tweety bird, white and green T-shirt on. She had white pants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police and the FBI immediately began searching for any sign of the tot, using bloodhounds, ATVs, helicopters, questioning sex offenders and searching all areas around the bowling alley including a building at a landfill nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to make sure without a doubt that she didn`t just wander away from the building, that she didn`t wander away and then lay down in the brush. We want to make sure she`s not here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The majority of the bowlers at the alley that night have been interviewed, but police have yet to identify the driver of a late 1980s or early 1990s Grand Am with tinted windows. Witnesses say the car was seen speeding out of the parking lot just moments after Teekah disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a matter of narrowing the timeline down, and also, again, to rule them out, so we can focus and put our energy elsewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bowling alley is now a fast-food restaurant, but until the toddler described as a mama`s girl comes home, Lewis will continue to revisit where she lost her daughter.
LEWIS: That`s what I`ve been asking for years, pleading for years is someone just to come forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Every day 2,300 people go missing in America, disappear, vanish. Families left behind wondering, waiting, hoping, but never forgetting. And neither have we. Fifty people, 50 days, 50 nights we go live, spotlighting America`s missing children, girls, boys, mothers, fathers, grandparents, gone, but where?
Tonight, two-year-old toddler, Teekah Lewis, heads with her family to the local bowling alley. The lanes are packed. Little Teekah`s having fun, playing at a car racing arcade with her family bowling just feet away, but suddenly, she`s gone. Reports, a Pontiac Grand Am with tinted windows speeds away from the bowling alley just minutes later, but police cannot identify the driver. Detectives chase hundreds of leads.
Tonight, 12 years later, a new tip. Are we one step closer to finding a beautiful little girl, two-year-old Teekah Lewis? What`s the latest, Jean?
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": You know, Nancy, we spoke with police tonight, and here is what they`re telling us. That if anybody out there at the time this little girl disappeared, January 23rd, 1999, had someone that talked about the case a lot, seemed to be very interested in the case, seemed to have an obsession with it, call authorities. This is the time. Anybody that knows anything of that nature.
I want to go out to David Lohr, joining us tonight, AOL.com. He is their crime reporter. David, this did happen in January, 1999. What time was it at the bowling alley that night in Tacoma, Washington, and how many people were there that night?
DAVID LOHR, REPORTER, AOL NEWS: Well, it`s about 10:30 at night, and they estimate there was upwards of 200 people present at the bowling alley when little girl went missing. Now, you know, law enforcement was there within about 20 minutes of being called, and they launched what by today`s standards was a pretty large search. I mean, they had 200 people out there. They had ATVs, helicopters, everything out there looking for this little girl, but they couldn`t find any sign of her.
At one point, they had some bloodhounds that had led them to an area a couple blocks away. It was overgrown. They couldn`t look at it at that time, but when they came back a week later, they did make somewhat of an interesting find. They found some Docker-style pants, a plaid shirt and a pea coat, kind of like what a pilot would wear, but whether or not those are related, we don`t know at this point, but it certainly could have been an attempt by somebody to disguise themselves and then ditch the items there.
CASAREZ: And that was very odd, David, because a cadaver dog actually took authorities to that field, but yet, they found nothing. I want to go tonight to Theresa Lewis, Teekah`s mother, who is joining us from the state of Washington. I can`t imagine the chaos that you went through and your family went through at that bowling alley that night. I`ve got to ask you this question. You believe your daughter is alive? You say you know that.
LEWIS: Yes, I do.
CASAREZ: How do you know that?
LEWIS: In my heart, she`s still alive. I`ll never give up on Teekah. You know, she was 2 years old, and she was a mama`s girl. And I don`t understand how they got away with her. But deep side in my heart, she`s still alive.
CASAREZ: Miss Lewis, do you know who has her?
LEWIS: I believe so.
CASAREZ: Have you told authorities?
LEWIS: I`ve told them over the 12 years.
CASAREZ: Have they investigated in that area?
LEWIS: They have. They`ve given him a polygraph. You know, he failed one, passed the other, but you know, they say they`ve interviewed his family, and they interviewed him, but, I mean, it all -- all the things that had happened prior to Teekah`s disappearance, I believe she`s in Florida.
CASAREZ: You know, Theresa, you know what they say about a mother`s instinct. I want to go to Michelle in Nevada. Hi, Michelle.
MICHELLE, NEVADA: Hi, how are you?
CASAREZ: I`m fine. Thank you for calling.
MICHELLE: My question is for the mother. I mean, I`m genuinely sorry for, you know, the loss of her daughter, and I pray that she is alive. But my question is, if she feels she`s in Florida, why hasn`t she went to Florida ?
CASAREZ: OK. Theresa Lewis, why haven`t you gone to Florida?
LEWIS: If I had the authority and if I had the money, I`d go there. I`d be on the first plane out 12 years ago. But I don`t have the money to do it, and I can`t just go up there because I don`t have the authority to go knock on somebody`s door and say, is my daughter here? I don`t know who -- I know who these people are, but I don`t know them.
CASAREZ: You know, I guess a lot of people, and I understand, money is tough to get, I understand that, but I guess a lot of people would save that money, penny by penny, to go. Do you think you`re scared to go?
LEWIS: Yes, I`m scared. You know, I mean, it`s been 12 years. They took 12 years of my life. They took 12 years of my daughter`s life. I have an empty spot in my heart. You know, I can`t get that back until I get Teekah. And yes, I do want to go to Florida, but, yes, I`m scared because they might have my daughter, and I`m scared to what I`d do if I did find my daughter with this person.
CASAREZ: Tonight, everybody, please help us find Janice Pocket, seven years old, vanishes July 26th, 1973 from Tolland, Connecticut. She`s a white female, four feet tall, 65 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. If you have information, please call 860-685-8000.
If your loved one is missing and you need help, go to CNN.com/nancygrace and send us your story. We want to help you find your loved ones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, two-year-old toddler, Teekah Lewis, heads with her family to the local bowling alley. The lanes were packed. Little Teekah`s having fun, playing at a car racing arcade with her family bowling just feet away, but suddenly, she`s gone. Reports, a Pontiac Grand Am with tinted windows speeds away from the bowling alley just minutes later, but police cannot identify the driver. Detectives chase hundreds of leads.
Tonight, 12 years later, a new tip. Are we one step closer to finding a beautiful little girl, two-year-old Teekah Lewis?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four dozen volunteers stand shoulder to shoulder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other two teams are ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Searching for clues into the disappearance of two- year-old Teekah Lewis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s just the desire to help people out. Just want to come out and do what we can to help find the little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a Tweety bird white and green t-shirt on. She had white pants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teekah Lewis was last seen here at a nearby bowling alley. Officers wanted to make absolutely sure that she didn`t wander off by herself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is that important? Because we want to make sure without a doubt that she didn`t just wander away from the building, that she didn`t wander away and then lay down in the brush. We want to make sure she`s not here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tacoma police even bring in Tunk, one of the best search dogs in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s just been really thorough in checking the ground and actually working quite fast today. So, that`s good, because we`ve got a lot of area to cover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the end, searchers come up empty handed, but the search leaves authorities with only one possible conclusion, that Teekah Lewis is the victim of foul play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. I want to go out to Lillian Glass, psychologist, joining us from Los Angeles. I want to delve into this a little bit because Theresa Lewis believes her daughter is alive, believes precious Teekah is alive in Florida. She tells me that she hasn`t gone in 11 years because she doesn`t have the money. I think that`s an excuse, but I don`t think she doesn`t want her daughter. There`s some other reason, Lillian.
LILLIAN GLASS, PH.D., PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. There`s something that concerns me that she just revealed on this show. And I`m all for a mother`s instinct. I really believe that, that when a mother feels something, you have to listen to that, but one thing that very much concerns me that she`s letting money stop her, and there`s no reason for her not to go to Florida, to somehow put the pennies together as you said, go to Florida and get authorities to help her get her daughter back.
CASAREZ: Well, Joey Jackson, defense attorney, joining us from New York, maybe she`s really scared. Scared for her own safety.
JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know what, she certainly could be, Jean, and I would just say to her, you know, just talking as an optimist here, you remember the Carlina White case just a few weeks ago here in New York.
CASAREZ: Got chills.
JACKSON: After 23 years, isn`t that right? It was amazing, Jean. After 23 years, there was a reunification of the daughter with the parents. It was incredible, and certainly, I would hope that there wouldn`t be another 12 years that would go by here for that to be that reunification. But, you know what, hope springs eternal. She believes the girl`s alive. Obviously, if she could go to Florida, get there, if she can, I just hope and I pray that there`d be some closure here and that she gets to see this precious little girl again.
CASAREZ: All right. To Steve Kardian, former police detective joining us tonight from New York. What can she do? If police are saying, we know there`s a lead, this is a cold case, we`ll get to it at some point. What can she do on her own, especially someone that is of meager means?
STEVE KARDIAN, FMR. POLICE DETECTIVE: Well, she can hire a private investigator to look further into her premonition that her daughter is still alive, and then, take that information to law enforcement and convince them that this investigation is not a cold case. And that there is a possibility that the child is in Florida.
CASAREZ: All right. So, fight herself, get that information, anything she can get and take it to law enforcement. Theresa Lewis, I want to give you one of the last words tonight. What do you want to say to anyone out there that may know anything?
LEWIS: I just want my daughter home. That`s it. You know, I know somebody out there knows what happened to my child. You know, it`s only going to take that one person to bring her home and that`s all we need. All I want is my daughter to come home.
CASAREZ: All right. Ivonne in Texas. Hi, Ivonne.
IVONNE, TEXAS: Hi. I was wondering about the car. Does she know anything about the car? And why does she know so much where her daughter is at? And the two guys that seen with the girl, why didn`t nobody notice anything?
CASAREZ: OK. Natisha Lance, what was the car that some said was fleeing out of the parking lot that night?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: It was a maroon in color Grand Am, either late model 1980s or early 1990s model. And I do have to say, Jean, that police did extensively research this vehicle. They didn`t find any connection to Teekah`s case. However, I did ask Teekah`s mother when I spoke to hear earlier if she knew anybody who had this type of vehicle, and she also said no.
CASAREZ: OK. Pat Brown, criminal profiler, joining us out of Washington, D.C. You started this show by thinking about people maybe behind the bar that worked there, going in and out, and then, we find out the video surveillance system wasn`t working that night in the bowling alley, Pat.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, that`s unfortunate. Obviously, they should always be working, but I`m really confused about how Teekah`s mother says she knows where this child is, but she wants somebody else to give information to police saying where the child is to bring her home. If she already knows it, we don`t need anybody else`s help.
The only thing I can think of is maybe, maybe she just wishes the child were alive down there, and the reason she doesn`t want to go down there is because she really doesn`t believe the child is alive down there. And that`s just one way to keep hope going, but if she knows where that child is, then obviously, somebody can go get that child.
CASAREZ: That`s right. And hope springs eternal, right? Carlina White is a prime example. A mother`s gut instinct. You go for it.
Tonight, "CNN Heroes."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE HALLUM, DEFENDING THE PLANET: In Guatemala, it`s typical tragically to have hundreds of mudslides. The rains come in downpours. The mountainside will simply give way and collapse. Houses are washed away, and people have been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translator): All three die here. They were like my children. The rains came. The mud took them away.
HALLUM: They just live with it and make the best of it, but I say, here are some things you can do.
I`m Anne Motley Hallum. I`m helping the people in rural Guatemala protect their families and their fields from the dangers of mudslides. Pine trees with tap roots hold a mountain together, but the trees are cut for firewood and to make room for the crops. And without realizing it, they`ve taken away their protection.
Gracias. Gracias.
We started to teach the villagers how to use the trees. We`ll start with little seed bed, and we`ll build that, and then, we transplant those seedlings on to the mountain slopes. We watch the trees grow. That`s why we stay for five years. I noticed that the mudslides aren`t happening here, and we say, all right, you`ve got it. You know how to do this now.
I can go back to areas that we`re nothing but mudslides and soil erosion. And now, I see forest and they`re still there, and they`re beautiful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: These are the faces of America`s missing. Every 30 seconds, another child, a sister, a brother, a father, a mother, disappears. Families left behind waiting, hoping. We have not forgotten.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fred Moseley is my brother, and he was born when I was 14 years old. So, he was my little kid brother. As a teenager, always enjoyed taking care of him, and we even went camping once or twice. We were living in a little town of Canyon, Texas, outside of Amarillo. Fred seemed to always be smiling. He was bubbly and excited and enthusiastic about things.
Also went to church every Sunday. He went -- he was in scouts. He disappeared in July of 1998. He was 17 at this time. There were signs that somebody had visited the house. To the best of my knowledge, they never really got any good leads at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m the father of Sharon Naomi Baldeagle missing since 1984. We just happened to see them walking, offered them a meal at his house, and took them down there and fed them, and they thought it was a generous gesture, which it was, but it didn`t turn out that way. It was a total stranger.
The girl that got away, the older girl, actually, that talked her into running away from school, she got out, she broke loose and got, went to the police. And ten minutes, later the police got to that house there in the suburb of Casper, Wyoming, and they were gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kristin spires. I`m her mom, Lynn. We`ve been missing Kris since May 14th, 2010. We`re just trying to find her. They`re following every lead that comes in. She went to a party in Big Rapids, and she never returned home. She took her purse, cell phone, and that was it. This isn`t like Kris to just leave like this. Our family is a loving family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: I`m Nancy grace. See you tomorrow night, 9 o`clock sharp eastern. And until then, we will be looking. Keep the faith, friend.
END
